
THE “ BUGOLOGIST 


AND 

THE CHILDREN. 


BOOK I. 

BY 


PAUL VANDER EIRE. 














COPYRIGHT, 1892, 

BY 

A. FLANAGAN. 


.EM 








preface:. 


In the compilation of this little volume the author 
does not claim entire originality; it is, however, princi¬ 
pally my own experience in collecting and observing the 
beauties of Nature, as shown in the study of Ento¬ 
mology. There are a number of books on insects but 
only a few can be read understandingly by the younger 
people of our public schools, therefore, to increase the 
few, is this book. 

Full credit is hereby acknowledged to Packard in 
his “Guide to the Study of Insects,” Steele’s “Fourteen 
Weeks in Zoology,” and many good suggestions given 
by Professor N. M. Eberhart and various other friends of 
Nature. I hereby wish to extend my sincere thanks to 
each and every one for aid that I have received. 

PAUL, VANDER EIRE. 


Lake Mills, Wis., 
May 24, 1892. 







PART ONE. 


Section i. 

THE BEES. 

( a ) THE TAME BEES. 


Let us go to the pasture and gather flowers. Re¬ 
member to keep both eyes and ears open. 

Here we are.—Oh, what a sweet smell these butter¬ 
cups have! Just look ! The field is yellow. But do you 
see only buttercups? 

No. Grass, of course, also. 

Now look again. What is that that just alighted 
upon the flower before you? Put your hand over it and 
see what it will do. iC Bizz-z-z-z- n it says. 

If you will handle it carefully, it will not hurt you 
in the least, but if you squeeze it the least bit, you will 
be rewarded with a sharp prick in your hand and, on 
opening, you will find a little kind of thorn, which is 
the sting of the little insect. 

If you were in a country in which there lived many 
giants of whom you were very much afraid, you would 
probably carry a pistol or a knife to protect yourself, 
would you not? These little insects use this sting to pro- 



8 


THE BUGOEOGIST 


tect themselves not only against giants—the people— 
but also against other insects or animals that might attack 
them. 

The little yellow creature that we see, is the Honey¬ 
bee. Most of these bees die when they lose their sting. 

Now what do you think it is that makes your hand 
swell so after being stung? In the body of the bee, 
behind the sting, is a little sac containing poison which 
runs into the sting. Thus the poison gets into the blood 
with the sting and causes the little blood-vessels to 
increase in size and we say the hand is swollen. 

Watch the bee very closely now while it “sucks 
honey,” as you say. See, how quick the little “trunk” 
moves up and down in the flower! But, I must tell you 
that this is not a trunk. It is a tongue, and the bee laps 
up the “honey” just as a cat or dog laps milk. This 
tongue is long and hairy, well suited for the purpose. 

Now, the “honey” that you sometimes found in 
clover is not honey; but the bee, after lapping it, turns 
it into honey. The sweet sap in the clover is called 
nectar. 

But nectar is not all that the bee gathers. Look at 
the legs. You will find, though they were black before, 
they are yellow now. The bee has covered them with 
a yellow dust from the flower, called pollen. 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


9 


Having “bag and thigh” loaded the little fellow 
rises into the air and flies directly home. L,et us follow 
it to its house. 

A little six sided box with a few frames inside is the 
home. 

Ah! but look inside! Is there only one? No, 
there are hundreds, all of which help to make home 
pleasant. 

You probably have seen honey in the combs in the 
store. How wonderful it is made ! Some people have 
tried to make something like this but the “little busy 
bee” has the “drop” on us there. No one has ever suc¬ 
ceeded in making comb-honey. 

I v et us look at some genuine comb-honey. 

Notice that each little cell has six sides and the 
bottom made of three pieces. It is so made that on the 



Cells of Honey Bee. 








10 


THE BUGOLOGIST 


opposite side three can rest on the bottom of one on this 
side. Thus the bottom of one form parts of the bottoms 
of three other cells on the other side. Everything so 
neat and so strong it could not be any stronger. 

What do you suppose these cells are made of? Well, 
you’ll say wax but where do the bees get the wax? They 
make it of the nectar they gathered in the fields. They 
sweat it out ot their bodies. Now, that seems strange but 
it is true. For that reason we give them foundation upon 
which to build new cells so that the bodies will not be 
so exhausted and be abler for gathering honey. 

Some men who have studied carefully the habits and 
inodes of living of the honey-bees tell us that some of 
them are honey-gatherers and some of them wax-pro¬ 
ducers and still others are nurses waiting upon the sick. 

Did you ever- dream of such things among insects? 

When the cells are completed the honey is put in 
them and they are sealed in the neat way that you see 
them here or those that you saw in the store. 

The pollen put in separate little cells and is kept 
for food. 

One thing more about the tame bee and then we will 
again go out into the field and visit the wild brethren. 

Each colony, as the collection of bees in one hive is 
called, has a kind of leader called the queen. When the 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


11 


colony has increased considerably in numbers, the queen 
together with the old bees takes leave to establish a new 
home, leaving the young bees to take care of themselves. 
In nine days the young swarm will have another queen 
and matters will go on as before the old queen left. 

Generally , the runaway bees are caught and caged 
in a box like the one they were in before, but some times 
they get away. They then try to find some hollow tree 
iu the woods or some other place of safety in which they 
make their home. 

In India there lives a Honey-bee, much larger than 
ours, that builds the comb right around the branches of 
trees. This bee can gather a great deal more honey than 
ours can but no attempt has been made to bring it to the 
United States or European Countries. 

We must now visit the field again. 

THE WILD BEES, 
i. The Humble Bee. 

Here we are again in the open field. It is about 
harvest time. 

Boys, I know of a “Bumble-bee” nest, let us go to 
rob it. Perhaps it seems cruel business, but who of the 
boys has not at some time indulged in it? I think none. 


12 


THE BUGOEOGIST 


First I shall tell you something about the origin of 
the name. Humble-bee is the proper English name but 



Cells of Humble Bee. 


the latin name is Bombus. Hence we have changed the 
latter to Bumble and annexed the word bee. 

There is a nest under yonder rail-fence, let us take 

that. 

The first thing we see is a round ball of dry grass, 
tucked away under the rail and kind of hidden. Touch 
the ball. See, how they rush out! Do not move and 
they will not notice you but if you run you will be stung. 

Now, let us in some way get the nest. We’ll not 
be cruel but we’ 11 capture the whole swarm in a bag and 
take the nest and examine it. 

What does it look like? Not like the one of the 
tame bees. The cells look like little bags and are not as 
neat as the six-sided ones of the tame bee. Perhaps it 
may seem curious how the bees ever get the dried grass 
together for the nest. I shall explain. 

Unlike the Honey-bee, all the bees of the colony 







AND THE CHILDREN 


13 


except the queen die in the fall. In the spring the 
queen awakens from her long sleep and immediately 
searches for some place in which to live. She generally 
selects the abandoned nest of a field-mouse, which this is. 
Sometimes gopher-holes or openings under stumps are 
selected. She then gathers a little honey and pollen and 
lays her eggs. They are all laid together in one mass 
and covered with the pollen and honey. It is hard to tell 
just how long it takes them to hatch. The several 
changes, (of which more hereafter), which take place in 
the hatching of all insects, seem to be so gradual in the 
Humble-bee that it is hard to tell where one begins and 
the other ends. 

As soon as the little bees, which now have the shape 
and appearance of a grub, are so that they can move, they 
eat the pollen that is around them. They now grow very 
fast and separate, each making large cavities in the 
pollen mass. When they are full-grown, each spins a 
silken wall about it, somewhat as the larva of a butter¬ 
fly does. This wall the old bees make stronger by cover¬ 
ing it with a thin coating of wax. 

The grubs are called larvcz , one is called a larva . 

The larvae now change to another stage, called the 
pupa. 

You have seen the pupa of butterflies and moths 


14 


THE BUGOEOGIST 


before they were hatched. The pupa of the bee is simi¬ 
lar : it cannot move. After a few days this seemingly 
lifeless creature has head, body, and limbs, all complete. 
The insects then eat their way through the cell-walls and 
appear as workers, small females, or queens. 

Now I have told you nearly all that will interest you. 
We will, now, look for something new. 

2. The Carpenter Bee . 

Examine closely the rail-fence near the Humble-bee 
nest and see if you cannot find a little hole somewhat like 
one made by some boring worm. 

Here is one. Let us watch it for a time. 

s A 



4 \ 

The Home of the Carpenter Bee. 
There ! did you see? 





















AND THE CHILDREN. 


15 


I have closly watched this nest for more than three 
months. Let us now take it and examine it. For con¬ 
venience we’ll break the rail so as to see better the house 
that this little carpenter has built, for the insect is the 
Carpenter Bee. 

Why, the hole is almost filled up ! How could that 
little thing turn around in there ? And where did she 
get those fine chips? Is the entire hole filled up with 
chips? We shall wait until she returns, perhaps she can 
tell us where the chips come from. 

Ah ! here she is. Bet her enter. I’ll now give her 
some chloroform and we can examine her closely.—Look 
at her head. She has a pair of strong pinchers or mandi¬ 
bles as we call them. It is with these that she tears off 
the little chips in the nest. She is about as large as the 
Honey-bee but must be a great deal stronger. See, how 
ironry her black abdomen appears. 

We’ll cut up the rail so we can see the nest better. 
—The hole is about four and a half to five inches deep. 
It does not pass ‘down straight but in a winding way. 
At the bottom there is a thin layer of raspings upon 
which is a larva. Then another thin layer of raspings 
and above this, pollen. A thick layer of raspings covers 
the pollen ; another lar/a with a pollen-mass above it is 
next in order. Five larvae are here. Too bad I have 


16 


THE BUGOLOGIST 


spoiled those three! Well, two are enough as specimens 
for a collection. 

This is the home of the Carpenter-bee. One long 
hole and that hardly large enough to turn around in. 
But there are only one or two to live in this house, so, 
of course, it need not be large. 

We’ll now bound over the rail-fence, into the 
woods, and see if we can find a still stranger but larger 
house. 

3. The Paper Wasp. 

Ah ! we do not have far to go. I am certain, in 
yonder hazel bushes we will find what we wish to see. 

Look among yonder cluster of bushes. Do you see 
that large, round, gray ball, about as large as a peck 
measure, or more like a foot-ball? 

That is the nest of the Paper Wasp. 

Why, it is all one round ball closed on every side ! 
How can the bees get in?— 

Let us go nearer and see.—See. There are bees fly¬ 
ing aroud it. Watch them. 

Oh, yes. There, on the lower side of the oval ball, 
is a round hole, large enough for two to enter. 

It seems cruel to chloroform them so as to get a peep 
at t he inside of their house. In fact, I hardly think we 
can do it. Perhaps we can find a nest that is abandoned. 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


17 


But all that I have seen this summer, so far, have been 
full; so I hardly think we can find a single vacant house. 

We’ll start a fire under the nest, and smoke them 

out. 

See, how the smoke overpowers them ! It makes 
them “drunk,” soffocating them. Now the “yellow 
jackets” have all gone out. See theni erawlinp-about as 
though they were hardly alive. 

Early in the spring I went by here and found these 
bees in almost the same condition. You can see, in a 
few places on the side, spots as though holes had been 
there before. I did find holes there, then. I took the 
trouble to follow up one of these holes and found some of 
the bees between the layers of the paper walls. 

But the little fellows were so stiff that I thought 
they were dead. I took a few of them home and placed 
them near the stove. Soon one of them began to move 
his feelers as though feeling around in the dark for some¬ 
thing to eat. It did not take long before the legs began 
to move and the little creatures began to caawl, so that 
I had to put them out of doors. I have two in my col¬ 
lection now. They were not dead but asleep and, when 
brought into the warm they awoke. Does it not seem 
strange that they, in fact nearly all insects, should have 
such long time to sleep,—more than four months. 


18 


THE BUGOLOGIST 



Look there. Right near this large nest is a new 
one started. There must be two colonies here. 

A kind of shell-like roof has been made. It looks 
almost like half a clam-shell except that it is deeper and 


The Clam Shell as we saw it on the Hazel Bush. 

in the center combs are started. That is how the house 
is begun. 

Let us now carefully peel off the walls of the large 
nest. What are the walls made of? Why, it is paper! 
And these insects have lived long, long ago, probably 
before man ever lived. So you see, men have been the 
inventors of many, many things but I think the insects 
have made the beginning there. 







AND THE CHILDREN. 


19 


The paper is made in a similar way that we now 
make .paper. Rotten wood is chewed and mixed with 
saliva, thus forming a paste which dries into paper. 
The paper of these few cells in the middle of that little 
mest is not made in this way. You notice it appears of 
ftner quality. It is made in a similar way that the spider 
makes his thread ; that is, it is a secretion. The bee, 
however, has no spinnerettes. 

Tear away the whole side. Notice the layers of 
comb. Nine stories are in this house, although it occu¬ 
pies so small a space. Is there honey in it? Yes, there 
is honey, but I do not think you would want to eat it, 
for some people even say it is poisonous. 

But there are high-capped cells near the middle of 
each story. What are they? 

Ah ! Open them.—There are little worms in them. 
Yes, the little worms are larvae of the bees,—they are 
young bees. These larvae or grubs will soon change to 
the pupa state and then the full-grown bee will be the 
last stage. 

Thus we have found the first paper-makers, in the 
woods. We’ll now go home and see if we can find some¬ 
thing else of interest in the old blacksmith shop. But 
let us take a few of these fine oak apples with us. 

Now I’ll see if you have your eyes open. 


20 


THE BUGOLOGIST 


When you pick them, do you stop to think why it 
grows on the leaf and not on a stem by itself? You say, 
they are not a fruit of the tree. That is right. 

A little insect, belonging in the sam$ order with the 
bees, lays eggs under the thin skin of the leaf. The cells 
of the leaf then increase very fast around the eggs thus 
forming the apple. The insect is called the Gall-fly. 

4. The Mud Wasp. 

We now have reached home. Let 11s immediately 
go into that old building and see what we can find. 

How old everything looks! You can see the day¬ 
light through the chinks in the roof. But hark! what 
noise do we here? Does it sound much like the music 
of a mason? It is, however, a mason’s voice. Wait a 
minute or so and you will see him. 

See ? There he (or rather she) goes. Did you see 
her long yellow legs? Her body is of a darker color. 
If you will go out to the well or some little pool of water, 
you will probably see her with some of her relatives, 
picking up little particles of mud and drinking water, (if 
I.may call it so). 

Let us now search for her nest to see what she does 
witli the mud. 

Look in the corners, under the eaves, back of the 
spars, or behind that tin pan leaning against the wall. 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


21 


Alia! Here it is behind the pan. She likes to hide 
herself. 

Let us take a nest that seems to be aoancloned, for 
there are plenty of them here. 

Clay seems to be the make-up of the walls of the 
house. But it is strange how the little workers could 
have gotten together so much material. Here however 
is a good lesson—it was done little by little. By 
small pieces the dirt was brought and stuck together, not 
all in one lump. So it is in life. No great thing has 
been done with unusual exertion but it has been done 
little by little. There is a similarity between the Mud- 
wasp and Paper-wasp in that the eggs are laid in separate 
cells or apartments, not like the Humble-bee which lays 
all its eggs together. 

But very unlike the Paper-wasp, its humble, little 
home is a “clay house.” In the little chambers of the 
house are the eggs, one in each chamber. Carefully 
break away the outside wall. Notice the brown cocoon. 
Tear it open to see what it contains.—At one end, the 
grub of the young wasp but that does not fill up the 
whole chamber. At the other end are three or four little 
spiders which I think, are intended for food for the little 
wasp when it is old enough to eat. 

This bee seems to be alone, also. Do you remember 


22 


THE BUGOLOGIST 


what other bee lives alone? Oh, yes, you remember. 
The Carpenter-bee is the one. When you watch the 
Mud-wasps by the mud-puddle you think there are 
swarms of them but there are not. 


Let us now recall all the insects we have watched 
and know something about. 

There is first the Tame bee of which everybody 
knows something; then the wild bees.—The Humble- 
bee, (Bombus), the Carpenter-bee, (Xylocopa), the Paper- 
wasp, (Vespse). Then we noticed also the work of the 
Gall-fly. If you will open the gall-apples carefully you 
may succeed in finding a larva and possibly an actual 
specimen of Gall-fly. 

Of course there are many, many other kinds of bees,. 
but I have not time to tell you all now. There is how¬ 
ever another family of insects, belonging to this same 
order—the hymenoptera—of which I must tell you— 
the ants. 

THE ANTS. 

One more family, belonging to the same order with 
the bees, we shall try to find out something about them, 
and then go to another order. 

We still are in the shop. My brother once kept 
honey here and probably a few stray drops have fallen. 



AND THE CHILDREN. 


23 


upon the floor. Do you see those little six-legged crea¬ 
tures crossing the floor? Now they enter the crack. 
Of course, you know their name? But I ain about to 
tell you about a kind of ant that lives in trees. We’ll 
go out to the wood-pile and perhaps we can find one of 
the nests of the species called Formica Pennsylvanica ,. 
Formica means ant, hence this is the Pennsylvanian ant. 

Oh ! all the nests are abandoned. None, filled with 
insects, is left for us. We must needs go to the woods 
in order to watch these little fellows work and learn 
something of their society. So let us be off. 

Here we are at the base of a large Oak-tree. By 
some accident the tree has become hollow, not so much 
that only a thin shell remains but enough so that ants 
can enter and make, their home. Possibly the ants bored 
this themselves, for, as we shall see, their mandibles are 
more formidable compared with the size of the insect 
than those of any other insect. 

Strike a sharp blow upon the trunk of the tree.— 
There.—See them come out. Now here is a chance to 
learn a great deal by observation and thinking a little at 
the same time. 

Notice. How some of the ants are busy, carrying 
bits of straw, minute chips, and other things! Notice, 
also the size of these insects that are carrying things. 


24 


THE BUGOIyOGIST 


They are the smallest in the nest. Strange, that the 
smallest should do all the work but they do and that 
without grumbling, as you can see from the way they 
work. 

Oh, but who comes here? A big black spider is 
going to attack this weak little worker. There ! he is 
trying to take the fly that the ant has caught. Well, 
the little ant hangs on but the spider fairly drags him 
away. But, never mind, Mr. Spider, you’ll be driven 
away before you know it. At last.—After he has 
dragged the little thing for more than a rod, the ant lets 
go and hastens back to his home. 

He enters the house. Something happens within, 
for a whole regiment of them conies out and starts in 
the direction the spider has run. These ants, however, 
are larger and stronger. It must be that their business 
is to watch and protect the house. So it is. They are 
soldiers and they are now in pursuit of the spider. 

The spider has hidden behind a little tuft of grass, 
where he thinks himself quite safe. But the soldiers 
move so quietly that he does not hear them, until they 
have almost surrounded him. Now he is frightened and 
trys to escape. In his haste he loses his prey, which the 
ants take. As he passes over the army, for he is much 
larger than the ants, the gritty, little fellows snap and 
jump at him but he makes good his escape. 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


25 


They got, however, what they wanted,—the prey 
and so they take this and go home. They think they 
have done enough, to get back what they lost, so do not 
pursue the spider farther. The spider in turn is glad to 
get out of reach of the terrible fangs ( mandibles ) of the 
ant. 

Thus we have found two kinds of ants in the same 
nest, soldiers and workers. But there must be some 
others, for we know that there is no family without a 
father or mother. So let us look for something of that 
sort here. 

Aha ! there is one that rarely shows herself. That 
is one of the females. There are more than this one in 
the nest. Notice that she has wings and that her body 
is a little larger than that of the rest. 

Ah, there comes another with wings but consider¬ 
ably smaller ; that is a male. Strange there should be 
so many mothers and fathers in one home is it not? 
However, our Creator has so arranged it and it is all 
very good. 

So then in one nest there are lour aitterent kinds of 
ants,—workers, who do all the work, soldiers, who 
watch for outside enemies, and males and females. 

Now in the fall of the year all the ants that have 
wings fly out into the open air. You probably have seen 


26 


THB BUGOLOGIST 


them yourself before this. When they settle again many 
new homes are established. 

Now we must for home. On our way, I’ll tell you 
an interesting ant story. A friend of mine who lived in 
California a number of years told it to me. It is what 
he himself has seen or I should not believe it. But it 
must be true according to his tell. He says : 

“It was quite early in the morning when I had 
started for one of the mining camps up the side of the 
mountain. As I was walking along the foot of the 
mountain in a well-trodden path, (so common among the 
hills,) I noticed a few ants crossing my path. I looked 
farther back in the direction in which they came and 
saw not only a few hundred but thousands. 

Well, I had always heard marvellous stories about 
ants. One man told me he had a pail of syrup in his 
pantry and somehow the ants got at it. He took the 
pail and hung it up by a string fastened to a nail in the 
ceiling. Later in the day he, by accident, saw one ant 
descending the string. About an hour later the string 
was black with ants and a broad band of ants stretched 
across the ceiling. The single ant had in the course of 
only one hour brought up hundreds. 

Now, thinking this some what fabulous I determined 
to find out for myself. 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


27 


I looked ahead in the direction the column of 
soldiers was moving, and I saw in the grass a large taran¬ 
tula , about as big as my hand. The spider was no more 
than six feet ahead of the ants, but he seemed not to be 
afraid. 

Perhaps, if Mr. Tarantula could have seen himself 
before hand as the ants saw him afterwards, he would 
have made good his escape; but he was tco proud to 
think of running away from a few ants. 

The whole scene was a Thermopylae. Tarantula 
was Leonidas and the ants the Persian host, but the battle 
lasted only twenty minutes. 

Bravely did the spider fight his enemy but its numbers 
were too many. It was of no avail It was fun to see. 
Well, perhaps not fun but admirable to see the little fel¬ 
lows climb up the legs and attack him in every place you 
can think of. 

After the battle, there stood Mr. Tarantula in the 
same attitude, his fangs ready to take whatever may come, 
but he was a lifeless figure. It seems the ants wanted 
to take revenge for the very hair were pulled out and he 
was bitten in every conseivable place. 

But the ants did not pass without loss as you might 
have seen by the number of dead that lay strewn about 
the corpse of the Tarantula. 


0 




AND THE CHILDREN. 


29 


Section 2. 

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 

(1.) Butterflies. 

In onr rambles in the last section we watched espe¬ 
cially those insects belonging to the great and intelligent 
bee family,—the Hymenoptera. On our travels in this 
section we shall take especial notice of those beautiful 
insects that you probably have uselessly chased a good 
many times, the Butterflies and Moths. 

It is the month of June, late spring, when Nature 
is most beautiful. Let us go forth again “under the open 
sky and list to Nature’s teachings.” 

We are In the clover field. At once, our eyes fall 
upon a living creature that is making its way, as it appears, 
toward the cabbage-patch. A worm about two inches 
long, all covered with hair of a dull green color, with six 
feet near its head, and six other little things like feet near 
its posterior end, is hying with all its might through the 
grass. 

Well, now, he can move quite fast, can’t he? He is 
not a snail; he moves too fast for that. You have heard 
and spoken his name so often that I hardly need tell you 
it is a caterpillar. 

This caterpillar, like every other caterpillar, is 
always hungry, always looking for something to eat. You 


30 


THE BUGOEOGIST 


can think how much they eat and how fast they grow 
when I tell you a little about the larva or caterpillar of 
the Silk-worm. 

When it hatches out it weighs about one twentieth 
of a grain ; when ten days old it weighs one half a grain 
or ten times its first weight; when thirty days old, thirty- 
one grains or six-hundred twenty times its first weight; 
when fifty-six days old it weighs two-hundred-seven 
grains or four-thousand-one-hundred-forty times its first 
weight. Just think ! If we should ever grow to weigh 
four-thousand times our first weight, what clumsy things 
we would be. The caterpillar lives to eat, so to speak. 

But his life is not long. After a few weeks he 
will be asleep. What! Asleep in summer ? Yes, in 
summer. 

The eggs of this one are laid on the under sides 
of turnip-leaves. In about three or four days they hatch. 
The larvae or caterpillars then live for about three weeks. 
And after that, fall asleep for about three days. On 
awakening, do you think they will awaken caterpillars? 
You will be surprised when I tell you no. They will be 
butterflies when they awaken. 

This larvae is one of the kind known as the Cabbage 
or Turnip butterfly. It will turn into a butterfly like 
that yellow one or that whitish yellow one before you. 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


31 


How pretty they are ! The larvae are, however, very 
destructive,—they eat the leaves of the plants and when 
the leaves are gone, unless there are a few new buds, the 
plant cannot live, for the leaves form the lungs of the 
plant. 

Catch the butterfly that is near you and we shall 
examine him more closely. 

Notice his feelers, the kind of horns on top of his 
head. They have little clubs at the ends. That is what 
distinguishes the butterflies from the moths. The moth’s 
feelers or antenncz have no little clubs at the ends but 
taper to a point. 

Now, here is a chance of training your power of see¬ 
ing. Examine the head carefully. What do you find ? 

You see a coil somewhat like a watch-spring. That 
is the trunk. If you examine it carefully you will find 
that it consists of two pieces which are nearly semicircu¬ 
lar and which fit upon each other in such a way as to 
form a tube. Through this the butterfly sucks the honey. 

But now I must tell you that he does not suck it as 
we do through a straw for the butterfly has no lungs 
through which he breathes. There are little muscles in 
the lower end of this trunk, which, as soon as some honey 
has risen in the tube, contract the tube at the point and 
thus drive the food up into the mouth. From the mouth 


32 


THE BUGOLOGIST 



it passes into the stomach and intestines and there is 
digested, becoming a part of the body in a similar manner 
that food becomes a part of our body. 

Now you will ask how the butterfly can live with¬ 
out lungs? Ah ! but he has gills. 

The butterfly has a similar apparatus. 

Look underneath each wing and see if you cannot 
find a little hole. The hole is the opening of a stiff tube 
similar to our wind-pipe. There is one principal one 
under each wing but there are many more all over the 
body and even in the wings. 

Here is a drawing that will give you some idea of 
the wind-pipes or trachece as they are called, and how 
scattered they are. 


From Packard’s “Guide to Study of Insects.” 



AND THE CHILDREN. 


33 


This, however, is the section of a bee. But there is 
not very much difference as to the trachea . 

(a) is the nervous cord, (b) the intestine, (c) the heart, 
and (d) the tracheae. Notice how the little tubes spread 
to all parts of the body. 

Now examine the head again. You remember that 
I said the larvae live on the leaves of plants, so, of course, 
they must have mandibles with which to bite the leaves. 

Notice two horny little things on each side of the 
trunk. That is all that is left of the mandibles or pinchers 
as you would call them. 

The butterfly does not need mandibles , because the 
food he eats is of such nature as does not require biting. 



Take the wings very lightly between the thumb 
and forefinger, rub them just a little, now look at them. 
Your fingers are covered with a kind of dust, are they 
not? 





34 


THE BUGOEOGIST 


If you place some of this dust under a microscope 
you will find that it consists of little scales. From the 
fact that the wing are covered with these little scales, 
we call the butterflies and moths Lepidoptera which 
means scaly wings. 



The Milk-Weed Butterfly (Danais Archippus.) 
From Eberhart’s “Elements of Entomology.” 



The Cabbage Butterfly {Pieris Rapae ). 
From Eberhart’s “Elements of Entomology.” 




AND THE CHILDREN. 


35 



The Swallow-Tailed Butterfly (Papilio Turnus). 
From Eberhart’s “Elements of Entomology.” 


The butterfly that we have thus far examined, is the 
Cabbage butterfly. Above are given a few illustrations of 
the most familiar butterflies and moths. 

I shall now tell you a little about a few very useful 
and hurtful moths. 

(2.) The Moths. 

I have already told you that the distinguishing 
feature between the butterflies and moths is that the 
anlennce or feelers of the moths are not clubbed but 
tapering to a point and very often feathery, as you will 
see presently 





36 


THE BUGOLOGIST 



AND THE CHILDREN. 


37 


In order to see some good specimens we should 
wait until evening, when we may see such as the 
Death’s-head moth, which has a figure like a death’s-head 
on its back, and Owlet moth. But I have found some of 
the finest specimens also in the day-time. 

There is one now, and it is a fine specimen too. Its 
name is Attacus Cecropia or Platysamia Cecropia. It 
is a kind of Silk-worm but its silk is of little use except 
to itself. A species of the same family, however, is cul¬ 
tivated, in California, for its silk, but the thread of the 
cocoon is not easily wound off because of the hole in it. 
The Chinese Silk-worm is cultivated more than any 
other. 

Now, what is a cocoon? I shall tell you. 

You remember what a larva is, do you not? And 
that the larva changes its skin a number ©f times. Now, 
before it changes its skin for the last time it weaves a 
silken thread about itself covering the whole body. This 
silken covering is a cocoon. The cocoon is made in the 
fall. During the whole winter and spring, for about eight 
or nine months, the pupa remains in this secluded place. 
In the month of May, sometimes earlier, the pupa excretes 
a kind of acid substance which dissolves the glue. The 
moth can then come out without tearing a thread. 

This cocoon is one continuous thread which, by care¬ 
ful work, can be spun off and woven inot silk. 


38 


THE BUGOLOGIST 

Strange, is it not, that the most costly goods are not 
made by man but by animals. Of course, it takes onr 
skill and labor to fashion these things but Nature herself 
is the prime manufacturer. Is not the manufacture of 
silk one of the greatest wonders of Nature? 

This moth however is only one of the family oi silk- 
producers. In China and western United States there is 
a silk-worm, called the Mulberry Silk-worm, the larvae 
of which live ou the leaves of the mulberry tree. These 
silk-worms are kept and raised in large quantities for their 
silk. 

We’ll now search for other moths. Let us go home 
from the clover-patch, perhaps the house has new curi¬ 
osities. 

In every house there is a kind of chamber in which 
old clothes, such as are not used any more, are laid or 
hung away. Let us go into this room and search for a 
tiny moth whose ravages are very destructive. 

Ah ! There is one. He came from that old coat in 
the corner. Let us look it over. Perhaps we can find a 
pupa. Ah ! there is a pupa. 

The moth is of a light buff color with silky wings. 
He has a thick covering of hair on his head. The wings 
are long and narrow with the most beautiful and long 
silken fringe which increases in length towards the base 


AND THE CHILDREN. 


39 


of the wing. At about May the moth begins to fly about. 
The eggs are generally laid in woolens, but sometimes 
you can find them in cottons. 

Notice how flattened the case is in which the larva 
had its home so long ! This moth probably just came out 
of this case. 

There are many, many other butterflies and moths 
about which I would like to tell you, and will at some 
future time. 







ENTOMOLOGY. 



Eberhart’s Elements of 


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In treating of the injurious insects, brief life histories are given, illustrated by 
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